Fyodor Chaliapin international opera festival opens in Kazan

KAZAN, February 02, (ITAR-TASS). The first night of The Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini will open in Kazan the 32nd International Opera Festival named after Fyodor Chaliapin. By tradition, the festival will be held on the stage of the Tatar Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Musa Jalil.

"The audience will see not a classical formulation of The Barber of Seville, a “theatrical long-liver” staged since 1816. The action will not be attracted to a particular era. We take everything that has been in the Barber of Seville for 200 years," said director Yuri Alexandrov.

The festivals’ program also includes other best operas - Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Turandot by Puccini, Carmen by Bizet and Verdi’s Aida, Rigoletto, and La Traviata. On Fyodor Chaliapin’s birthday on February 13, the audience will see his “corona” performance - Boris Godunov.

Two gala concerts will finish the festival on February 17 and 18. They will feature the festival’s all soloists.

The first festival was held in 1982 in honour of Russia’s greatest bass singer, who was born in the city in 1873.

The festival became an All-Russia event in 1985 and an international event - in 1991.